Books in the Literature and Philosophy series

Reconsiders the fate of the doctrine of mimesis in the eighteenth century. This book argues that mimesis, rather than disappearing, instead became a far more pervasive idea in the eighteenth century by becoming submerged within the dynamics of the emerging accounts of judgement and taste.

This text presents a revisionist interpretation of Emerson's philosophical discourse placing him at the juncture of modernism and postmodernism in the Western philosophical tradition.

A wide-ranging exegesis that systematically traces the history of philosophical conceptions of the passions in the work of such thinkers as Plato, Aristotle, Augustine, Spinoza, Descartes, Hobbes, Rousseau, Kant and Freud. It asks whether passion tortures people because it blinds them.

An exploration of the philosophical and rhetorical implications of William Wordsworth's desire for language to be an "incarnation" of thought. This book concentrates on familiar Wordsworthian texts such as "The Prelude" and also on less frequently read texts such as "The Excursion".

Draws on philosophical and novelistic texts from the Western European and Russian canons to explore a crucial moment in the epistemological history of narrative and present a nonreductive way of conjugating the histories of philosophy and the novel.

Covering sensationism, a philosophy of the French Enlightenment and 18th-century French literature, this study presents the main ideas of sensationism philosophers such as Condillac, Bonnet and Helvetius. An examination of the mind-body problem is also included in the discussion.

Examines Nietzsche's approach to what he called "the tragic age of the Greeks" as the foundation not only for his attack upon the birth of philosophy during the "Socratic era," but also for his overall critique of Western culture.

Investigates what Nietzsche called the "problem of Socrates," as that problem manifests itself in Plato's work. In particular, the book demonstrates how Socrates' own confrontation with this problem is the key to understanding the distinctively mimetic, dialogic, and reflexive character of Socratic philosophy.

Examines the crisis of a late eighteenth-century anthropology as it relates to the emergence of a modern consciousness that sees itself as condemned to draw its norms and very self-understanding from itself.

Focuses on the phenomenon of self-deception, and proposes a radical revision of our commonplace understanding of it as a token of irrationality. Argues that self-deception can illuminate the rationalistic functions of character.

Examines the relationship between philosophy and literature through an engagement with Plato's dialogues.